AKA Cartoon Network was a slot in the

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...

weekday evening schedule from 1999 to 2000, between 7 and 9pm on weekday evenings. The slot consisted of repeated shows such as ''

Space Ghost Coast to Coast ''Space Ghost Coast to Coast'' is an American adult animation, adult animated comedy talk show created by Mike Lazzo for Cartoon Network and hosted by a re-imagined version of the 1960s Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Space Ghost. In contrast t ...

'',

Tom and Jerry ''Tom and Jerry'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated media franchise and series of comedy short films created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Best known for its 161 theatrical short films by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the series c ...

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated comedy short film series produced by Warner Bros. starting from 1930 to 1969, concurrently with its partner series ''Merrie Melodies'', during the golden age of American animation.

and ''

Cow and Chicken ''Cow and Chicken'' is an American animated comedy television series created by David Feiss for Cartoon Network and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution. It is the third of the network's Cartoon Cartoons. It follows the su ...

''. In addition, the slot included an original show called Cult Toons, broadcast only on Friday evenings. 'AKA' Stings and Cult Toons material would consist of

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to c ...

owned footage, prominently from the 1960s and 1970s (such as ''

Wacky Races Eccentricity (also called quirkiness) is an unusual or odd behavior on the part of an individual. This behavior would typically be perceived as unusual or unnecessary, without being demonstrably maladaptive. Eccentricity is contrasted with norm ...

'', ''

The Perils of Penelope Pitstop ''The Perils of Penelope Pitstop'' is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions that premiered on CBS on September 13, 1969. The show ran for one season with a total of 17 half-hour episodes, the last first-run e ...

'', ''

The Banana Splits ''The Banana Splits'' is an American television variety show produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and featuring the Banana Splits, a fictional rock band composed of four costumed animal characters in red marching band hats with yellow plumes. ...

'' (including '' Arabian Knights'' and '' Danger Island''), ''

Hong Kong Phooey ''Hong Kong Phooey'' is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and originally broadcast on ABC. The original episodes aired from September 7 to December 21, 1974, and then in repeats until 1976. The show wa ...

'', '' Help!... It's the Hair Bear Bunch!'', ''

Harlem Globetrotters The Harlem Globetrotters are an American exhibition basketball team. They combine athleticism, theater, and comedy in their style of play. Created in 1926 by Tommy Brookins in Chicago, Illinois, the team adopted the name ''Harlem'' because of i ...

''). More contemporary material included ''Cow and Chicken'' and ''

Dexter's Laboratory ''Dexter's Laboratory'' is an American animated television series created by Genndy Tartakovsky for Cartoon Network and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution. It follows Dexter, a short, enthusiastic boy-genius with a hid ...

''.

Cult Toons

Cult Toons ''(also referred to by Exceeda as 'AKA Cult Toons')'' was a series of 30-minute slot experimental alternate comedy VJ (video jockey) videos, directed by Xavier Perkins and Brett Foraker. The inclusion of seemingly irrelevant and obscure clips from films and cartoons gave the show a very surreal and non sequitur quality. For example, common features of the re-edited cartoons would include repeated footage (when a character would say "You can say that again" the previous line would often be repeated), freezing the footage (usually after a line such as "Hold everything!" or "Stop!"), overdubbing voices (including randomly replacing lines with the theme music to ''

The Godzilla Power Hour ''Godzilla'' is an American animated monster television series produced by Hanna-Barbera, in association with Henry G. Saperstein. The series aired on NBC on September 9, 1978 with the title ''The Godzilla Power Hour''. The series continued to ...

''), and repeating a line or sound effect and adding drum beats and record scratches over it, turning it into a brief hip-hop song. The start of an episode of ''

The Gary Coleman Show ''The Gary Coleman Show'' is a 30-minute Saturday morning animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions that originally aired on NBC during the 1982–1983 season. The series featured Gary Coleman as the voice of Andy LeBeau, an apprenti ...

'' would often feature halfway through the show, edited so that lead character Andy LeBeau would suddenly

explode An explosion is a rapid expansion in volume associated with an extreme outward release of energy, usually with the generation of high temperatures and release of high-pressure gases. Supersonic explosions created by high explosives are known ...

a few seconds in. It would then end abruptly over a 'Technical Difficulties' caption, with a dramatic music sting. Another example, suddenly cutting to a clip of a

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; a ...

film if a character got angry. In addition, in an episode featuring the

Super Furry Animals Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band formed in Cardiff in 1993. For the duration of their professional career, the band consisted of Gruff Rhys (lead vocals, guitar), Huw Bunford (lead guitar, vocals), Guto Pryce (bass guitar), Cian Ciaran ...

, the opening titles of '' Help!... It's the Hair Bear Bunch!'' were edited so that all mentions of "bears" were replaced with themselves saying "furry animals". Prominent material however would be live-action films ranging from

blaxploitation Blaxploitation is an ethnic subgenre of the exploitation film that emerged in the United States during the early 1970s. The term, a portmanteau of the words "black" and "exploitation", was coined in August 1972 by Junius Griffin, the president o ...

Bruce Lee Bruce Lee (; born Lee Jun-fan, ; November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973) was a Hong Kong and American martial artist and actor. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy drawing from different combat disciplines that ...

, as well as footage of celebrity interviews and turntable DJs created especially for the show. The show would also feature clips from interviews with a range of special guests and promoted talents, particularly in the second series. Some special guests on the show included

Rio Ferdinand Rio Gavin Ferdinand (born 7 November 1978) is an English former professional footballer who played as a centre-back, and is now a television pundit for BT Sport. He played 81 times for the England national team between 1997 and 2011, and was ...

Cast Cast may refer to: Music * Cast (band), an English alternative rock band * Cast (Mexican band), a progressive Mexican rock band * The Cast, a Scottish musical duo: Mairi Campbell and Dave Francis * ''Cast'', a 2012 album by Trespassers William * ...

Kele Le Roc Kelly Biggs (born 5 October 1977 in East Ham, London), better known by her stage name Kele Le Roc, is a British R&B and UK garage singer. Career Biggs began singing at the age of three, and she attended Langdon Comprehensive School in East Ham ...

London Towers London Towers were a professional basketball team based in London, England. They enjoyed considerable success in the 1990s and early 2000s, collecting 3 titles in the British Basketball League (BBL) as well as regularly competing in European c ...

Keith Duffy Keith Peter Thomas Francis Julian John Duffy (born 1 October 1974) is an Irish singer, actor, radio and television presenter and drummer who began his professional music career as part of Irish boy band Boyzone alongside Ronan Keating, Mikey ...

Catatonia Catatonia is a complex neuropsychiatric behavioral syndrome that is characterized by abnormal movements, immobility, abnormal behaviors, and withdrawal. The onset of catatonia can be acute or subtle and symptoms can wax, wane, or change during ...

Gay Dad Gay Dad were an English rock band that formed in London in 1994 and broke up in 2002. The line-up of the band has included Cliff Jones (guitarist/vocalist), Nick "Baz" Crowe (drummer), James Riseboro (keyboardist), Nigel Hoyle (bassist) and ...

21st Century Girls 21st Century Girls were a teenage all-female band founded in 1996 in Dudley, West Midlands, UK. Previously called She Devil, the band originally consisted of singer Leanne Garner, her sister Fiona Garner on bass, guitarists Kate Turley and M ...

Rick Witter Richard James "Rick" Witter (born 23 November 1972 in Stockport, Cheshire) is a singer, songwriter in the York-based band Shed Seven. He was educated at Huntington School, York. Professional career Rick Witter formed his first band with sch ...

, Courduroy,

WCW World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Nationa ...

Nitro Girl Nitro may refer to: Chemistry *Nitrogen, a chemical element and a gas except at very low temperatures, with which many compounds are formed: **Nitro compound, an organic compound containing one or more nitro functional groups, -NO2 **Nitroalkene, ...

Regular Fries Regular Fries were an English electronica/rock group. Their style was surreal and infused with the space age. Although chart success eluded them they received rave reviews in the music media from ''NME'', ''Rolling Stone'' and ''Loaded (magazin ...

The Jungle Brothers Jungle Brothers are an American hip hop trio composed of Michael Small (Mike Gee), Nathaniel Hall (Afrika Baby Bam), and Sammy Burwell (DJ Sammy B). Known as the pioneers of the fusion of jazz, hip-hop, and house music, they were the first hi ...

, Trev Sinclair,

Reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic processes— deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock out ...

, Zach Shaw, A and

Waikiki Waikiki (; haw, Waikīkī; ; also known as Waikiki Beach) is a neighborhood of Honolulu on the south shore of the island of Oahu in the U.S. state of Hawaii. Waikiki is most famous for Waikiki Beach, which is one of six beaches in the district ...

. Tom Guest worked extensively on the show as a music producer. He later worked on a variety of products, including Cartoon Network and

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

commercials and idents in the early 2000s, a number of ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...

'' promotions for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

, and background music for '' Pro Pinball:Big Race USA'' and

MTV Base MTV Base was a British pay television music channel from Paramount Networks UK & Australia that focused primarily on hip hop, R&B, grime, garage, reggae, funk, soul and dance music. It was launched as part of MTV's digital boutique of music cha ...

.Tom Guest's personal portfolio, 2010
/ref> At the start of each episode, the featured cartoon and special guest would be announced by "MC Jacket Potato" (or Jackie P. for short), who was depicted by an edited likeness of Dexter from ''Dexter's Laboratory'', made to appear with a dark skintone, a yellow outfit, and an

afro The afro is a hair type created by natural growth of kinky hair, or specifically styled with chemical curling products by individuals with naturally curly or straight hair.Garland, Phyl"Is The Afro On Its Way Out?" ''Ebony'', February 1973. ...

haircut. The end credits of each episode would reveal the programme's UK origin by sampling a clip of

Velma Dinkley Velma Dinkley is a fictional character in the ''Scooby-Doo'' franchise. She is usually seen wearing a baggy orange turtleneck sweater, a short pink pleated skirt (or in later episodes an A-line skirt, or sometimes shorts), knee socks, Mary Jane ...

from an episode of ''

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! ''Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!'' is an American animated television comedy, comedy television series created by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears and produced by Hanna-Barbera for CBS. The series premiered as part of Children's programming on CBS, the network ...

'' saying "Made only in England!", interrupted after each word by record scratches and clips.

References

External links

January 1, 1999 episode of Cult Toons
on

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

{{Cartoon Network Cartoon Network programming blocks 1999 British television series debuts 2000 British television series endings Television programming blocks in Europe